Saudi Arabia expels Canadian ambassador

By Ben Hubbard

Published
1:32 pm PDT, Monday, August 6, 2018

Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador Monday and announced a freeze on “all new business” between the two countries in response to Canadian complaints about the arrests of two Saudi rights activists.

In a series of uncharacteristically aggressive statements on its Twitter feed, the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared Canadian Ambassador Dennis Horak persona non grata and gave him 24 hours to leave the kingdom.

The Canadian Foreign Ministry issued a statement last week calling for the release of the activists, Samar Badawi, a women’s rights activist, and her brother, Raif Badawi, a blogger who is serving a prison term for administering a website that criticized the country’s religious establishment.

“Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland wrote on Twitter, “and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi.”

Saudi Arabia struck back Monday, calling the post “overt and blatant interference” in its internal affairs.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy whose legal system is based on the strict enforcement of Sharia, or Islamic law, has long faced complaints from Western governments and rights organizations over many of its judicial practices.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pushing for vast social and economic changes in the country, including giving women the right the drive, opened movie theaters and expanded entertainment options in the ultraconservative kingdom. But critics say the changes have been accompanied by an authoritarian streak that brooks no criticism.